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Driving
Downhill speed control* The downhill speed control function helps the
driver when driving do
wn st
eep gradients.
Downhill speed control is activated when the
selector lever is in D/S and the driver applies
the foot brake. The automatic gearbox auto-
matically engages a lower gear that is suita-
ble for the slope. The downhill speed control
function attempts to maintain the speed at
which the vehicle was travelling when the
foot brake was applied (subject to the laws of
physics and technical drive limitations). It
may be necessary to adjust the speed again
using the foot brake in certain situations. Giv-
en that the downhill speed control can only
change down to 3rd gear, on very steep de-
scents the tiptronic mode may be required. In
this case, manually reduce the tiptronic to
2nd or 1st gear to use the engine brake and
reduce the charge on the brakes.
Downhill speed control is deactivated as
soon as the road levels out again or you press
the accelerator pedal.
On vehicles with cruise control system*
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Start and driving
Emergency program A backup programme is in place if a fault
should occur in the contr
ol syst
em.
If all the positions of the selector lever are
shown over a light background on the instru-
ment panel display, there is a system fault
and the automatic gearbox will operate in
with the backup programme. When the back-
up programme is activated, it is possible to
drive the vehicle, however, at low speeds and
within a selected range of gears. In some ca-
ses driving in reverse gear may not be pos-
sible. CAUTION
If the gearbox operates with the backup
progr amme
, take the vehicle to a special-
ised workshop and have the fault repaired
without delay. Indications on the instrument panel
displ
ay Clutch
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Driving
show a recommendation with the gear num-
ber that w oul
d be advisabl
e to save fuel.
In vehicles with an automatic gearbox, the
selector lever must be in the tiptronic position
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